Comparisons...

AUTISTIC - Mystical

1. Fact based consciousness - Thoughts and experiences organized chronologically or by logical categories (Philosophical thinker; many features of what we commonly call reality cannot be proven as being real) (Are events organized Chronologically or Sequentially? Do logical categories mean by relationship to each other?)
2. Knowledge as the goal, analysis as the tool - The autistic has simple desires, such as to fulfill curiosity and avoid trouble (Desire for peace and exploration; witness consciousness)
3. Emotions are at the edges of consciousness, tying together any unexplainable areas (Similar to how the God concept is used to explain the unexplainable)
4. Thinks in imagery. Audio-visual imagination separated from tactile senses (like watching a movie) (Spiritual Tongue; ability to visualize; pre-language; thoughts without words; poetic pictures) (Some call the state of being this document describes a modabid. A modabid is a dream of colors and spoken images.)
5. Self has an open boundary - tends assume that other people are like them and trusts them equally (I am You, You are me) (Namaste)
6. Consciousness does not "mark" non-verbal behavior as important, thus dismissing them as irrelevant (mind takes precedence over body, the mind may not be in full control of the body)
7. Consciousness experienced mostly through the self as the experiences and thoughts of an individual (Subjective reality)
8. Locus of control weak or missing - the autistic does not experience a strong sense of control over his thoughts, emotions and deeds ("God's will, not mine" Pre-determined universe. Submission of the individual will. Detachment)

(Strict rituals - repetitive ritualistic activity - religious ceremony; sacred rites; structured prayer)


NON-AUTISTIC - Physical

1. People based consciousness - Thoughts and emotions are organized by human archetypes or experiences with people (Stereotypes)
2. Fulfilling desires as the goal, exercising influence as the tool - All thought, words and deeds are aimed to create the right influence among other people to achieve desires (Manipulation)
3. Emotions at the core of consciousness, indistinguishable from other conscious experience (Emotions and desires over mind and reason)
4. Tactile senses complement audio-visual imagination without any separation in one's imagination (Sight and Touch are fused; non-physicality is taken as not being possible; religion over spirituality)
5. Self has a closed boundary - tends to bond with those they feel "comfortable" with; regulates people with different levels of trust & information access (A sense of Separation and Difference; I am not you; you are not me)
6. Consciousness reacts instantly to subtle changes in non-verbal cues: Reactive Predictive Communications (physical hyper-vigilance...? More manipulation...?)
7. Consciousness experienced mostly through one's social circle as the collective impression one has created (not really interested in others but of the impression they have of you) (They tell you what they want you to believe rather than telling you the truth yet still believe they are indeed telling you the truth)
8. Locus of control inherent - the non-autistic experiences his thoughts, emotions and deeds as willed by himself (Individual will rules; concept of free will is firmly established; Master of my own Destiny)

The Mysticism of Quietism

The majority of mystic practices (from what I can determine) seem to indicate a key concept: quieting the mind - basically ignoring the sensory input and the random thoughts that are constantly flowing through the brain. This silencing of the physical reality allows the presence of a non-physical reality to enter the consciousness.

The problem is that this non-physical reality returns no experience - it is as though nothing has happened and no time has passed.

How can the non-physical, then, provide physical proof of its existence?

This question is the biggest hurdle to convincing the non-believer - although it may turn out that some minds are simply incapable of making the leap into a non-physical [Spiritual] dimension. Subjective "experience" of the event is the current proof. Logic can get the intellect to the door, but the mind must step through its doorway to completely understand what lies on the other side.

And since there is no return of cognitive information, it is difficult to speak of the non-physical without sounding deranged or contradictory; thus the 'silence' of the mystic. If the experience is mentioned at all, it is in the form of poetic verse or Kōan-like riddles that force the mind to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time (this sets up a static interference and the brain shuts down allowing the other reality to flow in).

It's not so much that science doesn't know a non-physical reality exists, but so far, it has no physical application and is seen as pretty much worthless.

Religion uses the non-physical [Spiritual] environment as a power base, since most people can sense the presence of its reality without being able to explain its fact.

Here is a way to get close to a conception of the non-physical:
Let's say that all you know is 'east' as a direction. All other directions - west, south, north - are viewed as 'non-east'. Since east is the only familiar referent, anything not east is a basic unknown described only as being 'not east'. So it is with the non-physical. There may be many dimensions to it, but we can only say 'non-physical'.

The 'non-physical' lies cloaked in mystery as long as 'physical' remains the experience which fills the consciousness to the exclusion of all else - but it does not go away. It waits patiently for any who care to find it.